Departmental Unit № 1
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS)
PhD in Earth and Planetary Sciences
100% Full Funding Guaranteed (5 Years)
Funding Package: Complete tuition remission + 12-month stipend (~$46,500/yr) + health insurance guaranteed for 5 years.
Fall Priority Deadline: December 15
GRE Policy: Not required
English Minimums: TOEFL iBT 100 minimum or IELTS 7.5
AM in Earth and Planetary Sciences (En route to PhD)
N/A
Funding Reality: Harvard EPS admits students directly to the fully-funded PhD program.
Application Deadline: N/A
Admissions Advisory: If full funding is required and MS is self-funded, students are strongly advised to apply directly to the PhD track.
Vetted Matched Scholars (1 Profiles)
Prof. Kaighin A. McColl
Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Environmental Science and Engineering
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He investigates the invisible water vapor cycle between land and sky, showing how soil moisture acts like the Earth's memory bank, controlling rainfall and devastating heatwaves.
Core Research Topics: Terrestrial hydrology, land-atmosphere interactions, surface energy balance, satellite remote sensing of soil moisture (NASA SMAP), evapotranspiration modeling.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Leads McColl EcoClimate Lab. Recent publications: 'Triple collocation validates CONUS-wide evapotranspiration inferred from atmospheric conditions' (Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 2026) and new frameworks on lower-tropospheric moisture controls on soil moisture memory.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Triple collocation error analysis, satellite radiometry/radar, eddy covariance flux tower data, surface hydrological models, Python/Julia.
Recruiting Context: Actively directs NASA and NSF projects in land-atmosphere hydrologic coupling.
Candidate Match:
HydrologyRemote SensingGISPython
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Discussing his 2026 HESS paper on continental evapotranspiration validation, presenting your GIS and remote sensing coursework background."
Departmental Unit № 2
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) - Environmental Science and Engineering (ESE)
PhD in Engineering Sciences: Environmental Science and Engineering
100% Full Funding Guaranteed (5 Years)
Funding Package: Tuition waiver + 12-month stipend (~$46,500/yr) + health insurance for 5 years.
Fall Priority Deadline: December 15
GRE Policy: Not required
English Minimums: TOEFL iBT 100 minimum or IELTS 7.5
MS in Environmental Science and Engineering
Self-Funded (Warning: Apply PhD)
Funding Reality: Terminal SM at SEAS is self-funded; PhD offers guaranteed 100% fellowship and RA funding.
Application Deadline: December 15
Admissions Advisory: If full funding is required and MS is self-funded, students are strongly advised to apply directly to the PhD track.
Vetted Matched Scholars (1 Profiles)
Prof. Elsie M. Sunderland
Fred Kavli Professor of Environmental Chemistry and Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
She leads world-renowned laboratory testing to detect deadly 'forever chemicals' (PFAS) and toxic mercury in drinking water, rivers, and oceans, tracking how industrial waste poisons wildlife and people.
Core Research Topics: Environmental chemistry, PFAS ('forever chemicals') pollution, mercury biogeochemistry, aquatic contaminant transport, high-resolution analytical mass spectrometry.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Director of the Sunderland Biogeochemistry of Global Contaminants Lab. Recent 2026 papers: 'A Liquid-Liquid Extraction Method for Measuring Ultrashort PFCAs and Longer-Chain PFAS in Water' (Analytical Chemistry, June 2026) and 'Presence of Legacy and Emerging PFAS in Human Liver Specimens' (Environmental Science & Technology, April 2026).
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), automated water sample extraction, cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectrometry, spatial contaminant modeling in GIS.
Recruiting Context: Runs one of the premier environmental contaminant laboratories in the world. Exceptional match for candidates with hands-on environmental wet-lab analysis backgrounds.
Candidate Match:
Environmental PollutionLab Water TestingWater QualityGIS
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Highlighting your BSc wet-lab experience in water contaminant testing and titration, citing her June 2026 Analytical Chemistry paper on extraction methods for PFAS in water."